MTB: Mandaue Talks with Business

There’s something positively unique about the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Perhaps it’s its leadership or maybe the culture of kinship that is prevalent in Mandaue. Even in the ranks of its politics, the Mandauehanons have maintained the importance of family ties and continue to behave like the city is just one big household with each member related to the other in one way or another.

The Chamber has adopted this character and I felt like a prodigal daughter going home from months of absence and silence. And like a good father, the Mandaue Chamber welcomed me without batting a lash. As if I was never missing in the first place. And business went on as usual.

Once a month, Mandaue City and the Business sector through the local government representatives and the Mandaue Chamber, meet to talk about pressing concerns in the city that don’t just have to be an immediate concern of business but an agenda for development.

This venue is called Mandaue Talks with Business or MTB. Its derivative really started with the idea of having breakfast meetings with Massareal, Tsokolate, and Bibingka, the delicacies that stir the Mandauehanons and is a good starter for the day, as informal discussions on new policies and business directions are taken up.

The intention is to keep communication lines between business and the local government open so solutions can be derived through close coordination, sharing of resources and gainful exchanges.

In the recent MTB, joining the Mandaue Chamber as host was the Mandaue City Chinese Chamber of Commerce. This group of silent economic movers further strengthened the ties between the business sector and the City.

Considering that Mandaue is an industrial city, no matter what name is given to it to mark its identity, the advent of a forum such as this is most helpful and welcome. During the MTB business leaders openly share their concerns for development with government and the local government likewise imparts its plans and programs to business. 

Many points have been raised unabashed and issues addressed on the agenda table are immediately clarified and resolved.

Although the meeting shies from media to keep the forthrightness and informal atmosphere, it also allows the rather reserved members of both business and government to take the floor without the fear of being misconstrued. The MTB is on its second year this year and has been the silent mouthpiece that links the city and business together.